On May 7th, 2003, my application for membership to the
Sons of the American Revolution was accepted. Above is the
notification and the membership certificate I received from that organization. My Revolutionary
ancestor on my father's side of the family was Jasper Cather,
my 4th great-grandfather.

On February 16th, 2005, my supplemental application for membership to the
Sons of the American Revolution was accepted, thus confirming
involvement in the Revolution on both sides of my family. Above is the
notification and the membership certificate I received from that organization. My Revolutionary
ancestor on my mother's side of the family was
Zebulon Hallock,
my 4th great-grandfather.

Then and Now - Shortly
before our trip to Washington D.C., I was given some
old family photographs by my mother. In those
photos, were pictures of a trip she had taken in
1928 with her father to the same area. With
that knowledge, I purposely took two snapshots from
roughly the same camera angle when visiting Mount
Vernon, the home of our first President. The
first shot is of George Washington's grave.
The second if of his Mount Vernon home. It's
interesting to see how much has changed in 72 years,
yet how much remains the same..

Ever
since I was young, I was always fascinated with a
very old gun we had in the house. After
becoming an adult, it was given to me by my father, Harold
Petznick. He told me that it has been
handed down in the McKee family and given to him by
his uncle, Leo
McKee, who lived in Backoo, North Dakota.
According to tradition, the gun is supposed to be
handed down to the youngest male in the family.

The
gun is a smoothbore (no rifling). According to
a gun-savvy family friend from several years ago, it
was his belief that the gun was manufactured in the
early 1800s. It is a converted flintlock,
evident by the holes in its side by the
hammer. There are no serial numbers on
it. The only discernable marking is the name
"Josh", which can be seen clearly in the
photo on the right.

There
are two markings on the barrel that appear to be
notches of some kind. I also have a powder
horn for the gun, which is hanging up in my den.

In
January of 2000, I gave my mother, Mary
Louise Pine Petznick a Room Box I had made for her 83rd birthday, in
honor of her many years of teaching music.
Click on the photo to go to the album to
view all of the pictures.

Not
professing to be a carpenter, I managed to design
and build a new deck on the
back of our home. Click on the photo to view
before and after pictures of the project.